A Russian source today claimed to have information that the US plans to launch an attack on Iraq within the next month.

The Russian news agency Interfax quoted an unnamed, high-ranking source in the Russian general headquarters as saying that the US and its allies would attack once a battle-ready force of 150,000 troops reached the Gulf.

"According to the information we have, the operation is planned for the second half of February. The decision to launch it has been taken but not yet been made public," the source said.

The source claimed that toppling the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, was a pretext allowing the US to acquire control of Iraqi oilfields.

"The military operation against Iraq will be conducted by a combination of means. Strikes will be from the air, land and sea," the source said, claiming that Washington expects the military campaign to last for around a month.

Interfax did not explain how the Russians had obtained the alleged details. However Russian website gazeta.ru, wryly noting that US news outlets had been predicting an attack in late February or early March for some time, ran a story titled 'Russian general reads American paper'.

The US has said that it expects to build up a force of 150,000 troops by the end of February. Britain is sending 35,000 troops, a quarter of its army, to the Gulf.

However, the German chancellor, Gerhard Schr öder, made it clear that his country would use its position on the UN security council to oppose a resolution backing force against the Iraqi regime.

"Don't expect Germany to approve a resolution legitimising war," Mr Schröder told a rally of his Social Democratic party last night.

France, along with fellow permanent security council members China and Russia, has called for UN inspectors to be given more time to carry out their search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Washington sees January 27, when weapons inspectors are due to deliver a UN-mandated report on their mission in Iraq, as a decisive date, while allies and the heads of the weapons inspection teams have argued that it should be viewed as a progress report.

The UN weapons inspection chief, Hans Blix, has discussed delivery of a second report, which was not called for in the UN resolution passed last year, in March.

The US president, George Bush, yesterday sought to persuade allies of the need for early military action.

"Surely our friends have learned lessons about the past. Surely we have learned how this man deceives and delays. He's been told to disarm for 11 long years. He is not disarming," Mr Bush said.

The president may also need to persuade his own citizens of the need for an early war. A Washington Post-ABC News poll published today found that seven out of ten Americans favoured giving weapons inspectors more time to carry out their search.